For various reasons, (mainly as a kind of speech therapy) I used to do a of a lot of stand-up comedy gigs, mainly around the London comedy circuit and at the Edinburgh Fringe.

My subject matter was normally related to my stammer and I did stand-up primarily as a way to get over my stammer, by talking about it, becoming less self-conscious as a person and becoming more self-confident as a result of talking to audiences on stage.

In summary, to quote Coolio, of all people, "Too much television watching, got me chasing dreams". I soon realised that trying to become a comedian unfortunately wasn't like doing a standard 9-5 job, and this meant sacrificing a little bit of time with friends, regrettably.

To be honest, I always had difficulties in actually writing a decent joke and this combined with a need to earn some money, having a son, plus my ability to get easily distracted/lack of self discipline etc., meant that comedy has stopped somewhat these days. But some of the high points of those years were: